Object motion tracking

Hi guys. I have a question on how to do object motion tracking. Right, i know how to do normal motion tracking with syntheyes and using cinema with light wave scenes and all that stuff but say if i wanted a scene where the camera was focused on someone and he was holding something, say a gun. How could i track the 3d gun model into the footage? Will i have to make a cardboard model in real life and add tracking points such as dots onto it and fine track in syntheyes, then replace the model in cinema? is there a special type of motion tracking for this? Thanks